break everything to make something better
by nicalyse
Summary: So, you know how hard it is to invite someone to fight club when you're trying to follow the rules of fight club? This is not slash. One-shot.


So, you know how hard it is to invite someone to fight club when you're trying to follow the rules of fight club?

Fucking hard.

He gets the idea when they're all hanging out in the basement at Finn and Kurt's place celebrating after Sectionals. They were talking about how fucking scary (and a little bit awesome) Quinn was at the beginning of "Control," and how it was Blaine's idea for her to do it, then Finn said something like, "Can you picture Blaine doing fight club, dude?"

All he gets out of Finn is that Kurt's boyfriend started a fight club at Dalton, then Rory's pulling him away, asking something that Puck legit cannot understand 'cause that kid's accent is out of control. He's speaking English, Puck's pretty sure, but he has to ask the guy to repeat just about everything at least once so he can puzzle it out.

Anyhow. He figures he can do his part to make Blaine feel welcome at McKinley and shit. Whatever problems Finn had with him, Puck thinks he's all right. He makes Kurt happy, which is cool, and he gets along with all of the girls the way the gay dudes on TV always seem to. He's known from day one that Blaine can sing, and he had a lot of good ideas for the Jackson performaces. And now, he knows that they have something in common besides glee club.

Puck hasn't been to fight club in a couple months, but there's a meeting coming up and he takes a couple of days to think about the best way to get Blaine there with him. He can't just walk up to the guy and ask if he wants to go to fight club. There are _rules_, okay, and maybe they're mostly because Jack was fucked up, but it is what it is. He took Finn once, and basically kidnapped the guy to get him there without telling him where they were going. He doesn't think that'll work with Blaine. Like, what if Blaine thinks that Puck is trying to fuck with him or whatever and freaks out? Not ideal.

In the end, Puck gives up on trying to figure out what he's going to say beforehand and just sits back until an opportunity presents itself.

Puck waits until after the substitute has given up on teaching the lesson for the day in geometry, then gets up and goes over to Blaine's table. The kid who usually sits next to him is gone, so Puck drops into her chair and sprawls out.

"What's up, Puck?" Blaine asks, glancing up from his notebook. He's one of these guys who actually starts his homework at the end of class so he has less to do at home. Puck knows that's the way to go, and he makes an effort to do it that way most days, but it's hit or miss, really.

"What are you doing tonight?" Puck asks instead of answering the question. Blaine shoots him a side-eye, but doesn't say anything. "Seriously."

Blaine lifts his head and eyes Puck warily, like he thinks Puck is planning something sinister or whatever. "Why?"

"Look, I don't know what Kurt told you, but I don't pull that kind of shit any more," Puck says, exasperated. He's sick of people always expecting the worst out of him. "I'm not that guy anymore, and-you know what? Fuck it." He pushes the chair back a little, even though he doesn't need to, and moves to stand up.

"He hasn't told me anything," Blaine says quickly, reaching out to grab Puck's arm before he can stand. He lets go when he realizes that Puck isn't going to go anywhere and sighs. "I mean, he's told me things, but it isn't like that."

Blaine doesn't really strike Puck as the kind of guy who lies just for the hell of it. Finn's been like, stupidly annoyed by the guy, though they made some kind of peace just before Sectionals. That was apparently when Finn found out about the whole Blaine-and-fight-club thing. Blaine actually seems pretty chill. Maybe Puck jumped to conclusions about Blaine jumping to conclusions. It's like that self-fulfilling prophecy thing that Ms. Pillsbury brought up the one time he let himself get wrangled into her office; he expects people to expect the worst of him, but then he gets pissed off when they do. Except Blaine doesn't seem like he's doing that.

"What's this about, man?" Blaine asks when Puck doesn't say anything right away.

Puck rolls his eyes. "Are you free tonight or what, dude?"

"I guess..."

"Meet me here in the parking lot at like, 7:45, okay?"

Conveniently, the bell rings as soon as he's finished talking, and he stands up and heads out of the room before Blaine has a chance to ask any more questions. If he doesn't show up, it's whatever.

* * *

><p>Blaine climbs into Puck's Jeep at 7:48, if the clock on his dash is to be trusted.<p>

"Just tell me we aren't doing anything illegal," Blaine says, looking at him seriously.

"We aren't," Puck assures him. Okay, so organized fighting might be illegal, but it isn't vandalism or drugs or underage drinking or whatever, and he thinks that's the kind of shit Blaine's talking about. Besides, if the guy's done this before, he's clearly not too worried about whether or not it's legal.

"Okay, then," he says, grabbing the seat belt and pulling it across his body. Puck takes it as his signal to start the car and roll out of the lot.

Puck got to thinking that maybe he should give Blaine a little warning about where they're going. Just because he's supposedly done this before doesn't mean that he's down tonight, and once they get there, he pretty much has to fight. (_Rules_, though Puck wouldn't force him to stay if he wanted to leave. It'd suck though, and he'd definitely get his ass kicked the next time he went back to make up for it.) But he can't just come out and say, _'Hey, man, we're going to fight club.'_

He waits until they're sitting at a stop light. Neither of them has said anything since they left the McKinley parking lot when he asks, "So, what's the first rule?"

Blaine looks over at him like he's crazy. "What?"

"What's the first rule?" Puck repeats, lifting his eyebrows pointedly.

He sees the realization on Blaine's face when it all clicks. "Oh. _Oh_." He looks out the windshield, then turns again to face Puck. "That's where we're going?"

"Unless you don't want to."

Blaine seems to consider the question for a moment. "I want to."

All right then.

They have fight club out in Tyler Wright's dad's workshop outside of town. Tyler's a legit Lima loser, one of those guys who's in his mid-twenties who hasn't ever gone anywhere else or done anything worth talking about. Except starting a fight club. Which you aren't supposed to talk about. So.

Anyways.

There are a half dozen vehicles parked outside of the shop when Puck pulls in and kills the engine. "You're sure?" he asks Blaine.

He nods once and opens the door. "Let's go."

Fight club started as something Puck did because he was stupid. Then it became something he did to get out some of his aggression when he knocked up his best friend's girl and his life kind of went to shit. Some of the crazier guys have stopped showing up, so now it's a lot more about technique and shit than just wailing on each other, and fuck you (Quinn) if you don't think that's true. Puck doesn't really hit people any more (just like he doesn't toss kids in dumpsters or throw slushies), and he has to get his aggression out somehow. Football isn't enough, and maybe he should just spend the time in the gym, but there's something satisfying about hitting an actual person. That's probably fucked up, but whatever.

The way Blaine starts unbuttoning his fancy plaid shirt as soon as they're in the shop makes Puck think that maybe he has some aggression to get out, too. This is a whole new side to Blaine. Puck kind of digs it.

Cody, this douche from West Lima who's friends with Tyler and like, second-in-command, comes up to them. "Haven't seen you in a while, Puckerman."

Puck bumps his fist when he offers it. "Shit to do." He was studying for finals and he isn't at all interested in explaining any bruises to Shelby. Not that that's an issue any more after Sunday night. But fuck that. "This is Blaine," he says, jerking his head in Blaine's direction before tugging his shirt up over his head. "Cody."

"'Sup?" Blaine just nods at Cody. "You know you gotta fight, right?"

"I know the rules," Blaine answers simply, shrugging out of his shirt. "Does the new guy go first around here?"

Puck's like, weirdly proud of Blaine right now.

Cody smirks. "Who you want?"

Blaine looks over at the other guys, standing together a few feet away and totally looking Blaine over like they're trying to see if they can figure out what he's made of. Puck would be doing the same thing if the situation was different, so he gets it.

"I thought I'd fight Puck, actually." Puck looks at him with wide eyes. Blaine just shrugs. "Let's see what you're made of."

It's so fucking on.

Tyler runs through the rules while Puck and Blaine take off their shoes and the rest of the guys circle up. It's all a show for Blaine's benefit, Puck knows, but he doesn't seem like he's bothered by any of it. He isn't really paying any attention at all. Puck hadn't expected this when he invited him here, though he maybe should have. Now, he's sizing Blaine up for a fight instead of looking at him as a teammate or a singing competitor.

Blaine's not a big guy, but now that he's got his shirt off, Puck can see that the guy's definitely in shape, and he has to assume that not only does Blaine know how to fight in general, but also how to use his size to his advantage. They've had unspoken rules around here about low blows and letting up when there's blood, but he doesn't think Blaine will roll that way, so he doesn't worry about it.

They bump fists before they start not because it's something they do around here, but because Blaine is his bro now and it feels like the right way to do this thing.

Blaine lands the first blow, a right hook that sort of glances off Puck's jaw. Puck nails him in the ribs with a left that he didn't see coming, and it's on.

* * *

><p>"Noah, what happened to your face?"<p>

Of fucking course Rachel is the one who notices the faint bruise on his jaw, and of course she asks about it in the middle of a glee club rehearsal.

"Nothing," he answers simply. Even if he wanted to explain, rules.

'S'cool, really. He saw earlier when Kurt pulled Blaine into a hug that made the guy wince in pain.

They've already decided to rematch next week.


End file.
